Start with the fact that, as reflected in the above sign, Eastwood really is a village within the city. That is, it was a village until the mid-1920’s when it incorporated with the city of Syracuse. This means that in Eastwood, there’s a “there” there! Our “Main Street” is James St. North and south of James there are residential areas laid out pretty much in a grid. The streets are lined with very tall, gracious old trees. The homes are a healthy mix of single-family and 2- or 3-family homes, with a few larger apartment complexes. Most commercial activity is concentrated along James St. toward the north and Burnet Ave. on the southern boundary of Eastwood.

But what makes Eastwood such a great place to live in? The people! There’s a healthy mix of people here and a lot of them care very deeply about Eastwood. In many families, the children who grew up and moved away eventually moved back – and that’s saying a lot for snowy Syracuse!

Okay, it’s also Eastwood’s good old-fashioned walkability that makes it so great. Within a fifteen-minute walk from nearly every house in Eastwood, you’ll find:
A movie theater (the recently-renovated Palace Theatre)
Two cafes
Many salons
A hardware store
Two music shops (okay, one is headed just over the city line, still on James St. but actually in East Syracuse)
Three independent book stores
A hat store
A dress shop
A donut shop
A couple convenience/grocery stores
A couple bars
Several restaurants (Eastwood’s White Tower)
Some of the best mechanics in Syracuse
An old-fashioned diner
Banks
Car sales
Antiques
A Brooklyn-style sandwich shop
A host of other services and businesses

Eastwood is not gentrified. It’s not perfect. It’s waking up to its own potential. Improvements on James St. are being done by the city. Some businesses are investing in improvements, too. We expect others will follow. A Chamber of Commerce is in the works.

There are a number of Neighborhood Watch groups, there is a very active TNT (Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today) group, and there is the equally active Eastwood Neighborhood Association. Eastwood has an elementary school, a high school, a golf course, ski trails and a skating rink! All within walking distance of the residential areas.

But if you want to get to other parts of the city or the world, I-690 and I-90 are less than a 5-minute drive from anywhere in Eastwood. Getting to Syracuse University takes all of ten minutes. Live in Eastwood and you go gentle on your gas expenses and gentle on the environment.
Syracuse ranked #14 in medium cities by Inc. Magazine!Top 25 Cities for Doing Business in America“If you’re looking for cities large, medium, and small where job growth is robust and economies are strong, head to the ones on this year’s Top Cities list.” One aspect listed as important to economic growth: diversity of businesses. Let’s keep diversity on James Street.

“Developers have recently recognized opportunities in walkable shopping centers that offer a “sense of place.” Lifestyle centers (and “New Town Centers”) are being developed to replicate many of the community or neighborhood shopping experiences offered by downtowns. These new centers try to recreate downtown’s sense of place with small building footprints, multi-story buildings and an open-air environment. They are built to be pedestrian friendly, convenient and safe. Traditional downtown areas that are walkable already possess what many developers are trying to duplicate.”– Economic Benefits of a Walkable Community

The downtown library – 447 So Salina St – has some clipping files on Syracuse Theaters, you could also search the newspapers for items about the Palace. Also the Paine Library in Eastwood has a historical collection on Eastwood that should help. Lastly the Onondaga Historical Assoc. might have some materials on either of these – you might call them?

The question isn’t did Walgreens do a right by Eastwood? The answer to that question is yes, they did. However, largely because of the Eastwood Zoning Overlay Design Guidelines and Standards, without these rules things would have looked a lot different.
The correct question is should there be rules and should everyone follow them? The guidelines call for “no free standing signage” and “no animated signage”. They also state (regarding animated signage) that this “shall not be subject to exception”. Which now raises yet another question, is a digital readout sign animated? I would say yes, judging by the fact that the letters are moving or animated. If these are unreasonable guidelines, (and I think not) then they should be changed to allow for free standing signs.
Some would argue that because Walgreens spent millions of dollars that they should not be subject to the same rules that a smaller business would be subject to. That does not seem right to me.
Let’s talk about rules and guidelines. I suppose for those that want to preserve the look of Eastwood as it was ten years ago, we could go back to the days when we had no rules. However, I would say that that is how we got to where we were ten years ago. Since the guidelines, Eastwood has seen the best development we have ever had, including the Walgreens project. There is more to come and it should be subject to design review and up to the NEW standard of Eastwood not the old standard of plywood in-fills and T-111 siding.
Since the guidelines, property values in Eastwood have risen to an all time high. James Street, although it still has issues, looks better than it has in its entire history. I look forward to spending money in Walgreens and I urge this community to support it by shopping there often, but not by bending the rules.
Planning commission, 10 years ago, the people of Eastwood urged the city council to pass these rules now it is up to you to keep them enforced.